Plans for 120 homes given in Exning go ahead

Plans for 120 new homes in a Suffolk village have been granted outline planning permission.

Developer Charles Church has been given the go ahead to build the homes in Exning near Newmarket.

Exning Action Group opposed the plan, claiming the village - which is made up of 850 homes - is too small for such expansion and lacks facilities.

Rona Burt, Forest Heath council cabinet member, said there were no planning reasons to reject the proposals.

The permission for the 15 acre (6 hectare) development on land south of Burwell Road was granted 13 votes to three.

'Homes shortage'

Councillor Burt said the 120 new homes will include 36 more affordable homes for local people.

"There is a shortage of affordable homes in the rural locality," she said.

Mrs Burt added that the government has ruled that a certain amount of land must be provided for housing.

The action group said it has got 900 signatures on a petition opposing the plans.

Simon Cole, spokesman for the action group, said: "The size of the whole development is out of scale and these people are going to have to go to Bury St Edmunds or Cambridge for work and the roads round here won't cope.

"What Exning needs is 10-15 affordable houses to be built each year for about two years.

"If we're going to have any small villages left in Suffolk, then we need to protect them."

Planning officers for the Conservative-controlled council said the development should contain 36 affordable homes ranging from one-bedroom bungalows to four-bedroom houses.